Ponder: Christmas in Silver Springs

After my previous book, Olive Kitteridge (post for 5/3/19), which I personally found tedious and depressing even though it was touted as a literary great, I needed a mindless and frivolous selection. I was hopeful that Brenda Novak's sixth book in the Silver Springs Series would fit the bill and, in a limited way, it did. Christmas in Silver Springs ©2019 was a very quick, mindless read that inspired no deep thinking whatsoever. Unfortunately it was my least favorite of the Silver Springs Series. I rate it 2 stars which in my rating system translates as Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it. Only 1% of Amazon reviewers rated it 2 stars so I am definitely in the minority.
 

A redeeming feature is that it continued the story of Tobias, the younger brother of Maddox the main character of the previous book in the series. At age seventeen, Tobias had been tried as an adult and put into prison for an accident that left another teen in a wheelchair for life. Christmas in Silver Springs picks up the storyline with Tobias getting out of prison and struggling to re-establish an independent productive life. Another redeeming feature is that the locale remains the same and the characters are familiar. There is an old man, Uriah, who owns and lives in a sixteen acre tangerine orchard. He rents a cabin to Tobias, viewing him as a good man.  Uriah is fun, displaying his spunk and accepting attitudes, and brings a smile to my face whenever he appears in the plot. 

Reading the books in publication order is usually not the case with the Silver Springs Series, but following this book is better when the reader is familiar with the fifth book. Brenda Novak has several passages to bring the reader up to speed that are revealed sporadically in an weak attempt to be suspenseful about disclosing the past, but seemed tedious and repetitious to me. The romance angle and sexual trysts seemed contrived and unrealistic, needing an even higher-than-normal level of suspension-of-belief than is customary in romance novels.

Books in the Silver Springs Series:

1. Finding Our Forever ©2017 3 stars (post for 12/4/17)
2. No One But You ©2017 4 stars (post for 11/10/17)
3. Until You Loved Me ©2017 5 stars (post for 11/2/17 )
4. Right Where We Belong 3 stars (post for 2/15/18 )
5. Unforgettable You ©2019 4 stars (post for 5/12/19 )
6. Christmas in Silver Springs ©2019 2 stars (this post)
7. A California Christmas (due for release in mid-October 2020)

Unless you are a fan of the Silver Springs Series, do not rush out and read this one. It does not even have enough Christmas in it to appear in the title. Novak's seventh book in the series, A California Christmas, is due out mid-October 2020 and I plan to read it. Christmas in Silver Springs was entertaining enough, despite the 2 star rating I gave it, to not dissuade me from continuing my unbroken string of following this series.